No torture, execution for Snowden, US tells Russia

Reuters, MOSCOW and WASHINGTON

The US has made a formal promise to Russia not to execute or torture Edward Snowden if he is sent home to face charges of illegally disclosing government secrets, and the Kremlin said Russian and US security agencies are in talks over his fate.

The 30-year-old former US spy agency contractor has been stuck in the transit area of a Moscow airport for more than a month despite Washington’s calls to hand him over.

Russia has refused to extradite Snowden, who leaked details of a secret US surveillance program including telephone and Internet data, and is now considering his request for a temporary asylum.

In a letter dated Tuesday and released on Friday, US Attorney General Eric Holder sought to dispel claims about what would happen to Snowden in the US.

“Mr Snowden has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty. These claims are entirely without merit,” he wrote in the letter.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and its US counterpart, the FBI, were in talks over Snowden, whose stay at the Moscow International Sheremetyevo airport has strained Moscow-Washington ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed “strong determination” not to let relations suffer over the dispute “no matter how the situation develops.”

Putin is not dealing personally with the problem, Peskov said. Yet he reiterated Moscow’s stance that Russia “did not hand over, does not hand over and will not hand over anybody.”

Putin, a former KGB spy, has said Snowden could only be granted sanctuary in Russia if he stopped actions that could harm the US.

A US law enforcement official following the case confirmed the FBI has been in discussions with the FSB about Snowden for some time now but added he was not aware of any recent breakthroughs or imminent developments stemming from that.

A Russian security expert said the talks may be about how to secure a promise from Snowden to stop leaking if he were granted sanctuary in Russia.

“The United States maybe understands that they are not going to get Snowden, so my theory is that they are trying to save face and stop Snowden from publishing new exposes,” Andrei Soldatov said, adding that he was skeptical this could be done.

Snowden’s supporters have worried he could face the same fate as US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, the US soldier on trial for providing documents to anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks.

On his arrest, Manning was placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with guards checking on him every few minutes.

“Torture is unlawful in the United States,” Holder wrote, without making an explicit reference to Manning. “If he returns to the United States, Mr Snowden would promptly be brought before a civilian court.”

Snowden has been offered asylum by three Latin American countries, but none of them is reachable directly on commercial flights from Moscow, where he flew in from Hong Kong on June 23, and his passport has been revoked by the US.

His hopes for leaving the Sheremetyevo airport transit zone, which Russia insists is formally not its territory, were dashed at the last minute on Wednesday, prompting a wave of speculation about possible political intervention or a hitch.